38 | OCTOBER 6 • 2022 

transferred them to individual 
pots, gave them water and 
light, and waited. Some time 
later, I had a couple of dozen 
seedlings, and I gave many of 
them to friends,” he said.
“Three of them grew pretty 
large, so I transferred them 
to bigger pots and kept them 
inside in winter and outside 
in summer. We used drip 
irrigation for our garden so 
watering the etrog plants was 
automatic and, thanks to the 
sun and the breezes, they grew. 
“By this time,,” he said, “they 
were 4 feet tall in half-bushel 
pots, and moving them was 
a nuisance (since they have 
quite a few spikes), but I only 
had to do it twice a year. Some 
branches died, but the trees 
continued to live. They even 
produced the occasional flow-
er, which never produced fruit. 
“Once in a while, a strong 
wind would blow them over, 
but I just put them back and 
they kept going.
“Eventually we had a grow 
light inside the house and this 
stimulated growth of leaves in 
winter, but no fruit,” he said. 
Preparing to move from 
Oak Park to Detroit, Lewis 
and his wife, Bobbie, “gave 
our remaining trees to good 
homes … A plant is not a 
great gift, because the recip-
ient may feel obliged to keep 
it alive and to give the donor 
periodic reports on its condi-
tion, but I don’t think we lost 
any friends by giving them 
etrog trees.”
One of those trees went 
to the Lewis’ daughter and 
son-in-law, Miriam and Dov 
Gardin, in New Jersey. 
Miriam Gardin reported, 
“We do indeed have one 
of the early etrog trees my 
dad grew from seed, and it 
has done spectacularly well 
(sometimes miraculously). We 

keep it outdoors during the 
summertime and it thrives!
“During the winter,” she 
said, “when it’s indoors, we 
often battle spider mites as the 
heaters dry out the air and it 
becomes more susceptible to 
infestation. I spray the leaves 
with a bit of dish soap mixed 
with tap water and wipe them 
off to try to get as many mites 
as possibly before they hatch 
… I have given the citrus tree 
fertilizer a few times.
“
A few years ago, we saw 
three etrogim growing!” she 
reported.
“One was stolen by a squir-
rel or other animal, one had a 
blemish from hanging down 
onto the soil as it grew larger, 
and the third was our etrog for 
Sukkot!” 

SUKKOT

The etrog tree Miriam Gardin 
received from her father. The 
tree stands now on her patio, 
nearly 4 feet high.

continued from page 37

(313) 963-6255 | www.dumoart.com
409 East Jefferson Avenue, Detroit, MI 48226

BID IN THE 
OCTOBER 
AUCTIONS

A THREE DAY EVENT

FIND THESE MASKS
AND MUCH MORE
AT LIVE.DUMOART.COM

October 1
2, 13, & 14

